Feb 05, 2013

A reader in Goodhue County drew Bluestem's attention to the following item in Charley Shaw's article posted Friday, February 1, at Politics in Minnesota's Briefing Room, Sand storm heads toward Capitol:

The sand mining industry has recently gotten organized as well. The
Minnesota Industrial Sand Council was formed about three weeks ago, with
Red Wing Mayor and Capitol lobbyist Dennis Egan as its executive
director. The council, which is part of Aggregate & Ready Mix [Association] of
Minnesota, has hired the Minneapolis-based Larkin Hoffman law and
lobbying firm as its lobbyists. The group includes sand-mining companies
as well as railroad, trucking and petroleum interests.

“We’ve got mining operations that have been in Mankato and Shakopee
and St. Peter and Winona. These are Minnesota folks,” Egan said. “When
they hear their operations and their livelihood potentially is going to
come to a screeching halt, they said: ‘We need a voice at the Capitol,
because that’s now where the conversation is going.’” . . .

Egan's new job suggests several vexing questions about transparency and the potential appearance of conflicts of interest. Are disclosure rules for the City of Red Wing and the state of Minnesota adequate for citizens to have confidence in their local government as the city's mayor speaks on behalf of a controversial industry?

The hiring also recalls earlier stories of local government officials and staff in Minnesota and Wisconsin being hired by the frac sand industry or using their positions to negotiate advantages for their own holdings, as the Star Tribune reported in Local officials dealing themselves a piece of frac sand boom.

Rep. Tim Kelly, R-Red Wing, said he will push
for a more extensive review of the potential effect of silica-sand
mining. Specifically, he backs the idea of a statewide Generic
Environmental Impact Statement and a temporary moratorium while the
study is completed.

"We have a lot of questions out there without any real valid answers," Kelly said. . . .

Newly elected Sen. Matt Schmit, DFL-Red Wing, said he plans to author
legislation aimed at addressing some of the concerns, but he still is
hammering out the details. . . .

Certainly, people in Goodhue County and Red Wing are buzzing enough to reach out to Bluestem with questions about the hire. Already, residents and readers are sharing their dismay in the PIM article's comment section.

The mayor is entering his first full four-year term, having won a 2011 special election to fill the vacancy left by former mayor and state senator John Sterling Howe in 2010. The Red Wing Republican Eagle reported in Egan sees promise in Red Wing, files for mayor on December 20, 2010:

Helping Red Wing achieve economic development is one his main
motivations, said Egan, 47, who serves as the director of Public Affairs
for Cook Hill Girard, a lobbying firm in St. Paul.

Egan said
his job allows him to travel across the state, speak with local leaders
and has introduced him to a host of issues public policy matters from
energy to agriculture and taxes to transportation.

He's also
served three years as president of the Red Wing Chamber of Commerce and
on Howe's Blue Ribbon Task Force on economic development.

The lobbyists registered for the Aggregate Ready Mix Assn of MN all work for Ewald Consulting, with the exception of association president Fred Corrigan.

The Minnesota Industrial Sand Council is not registered with the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board; MISC has no website and is not featured on the ARMA-MN website. Although lobbyist data for Larkin Hoffman Daly & Lindgren Ltd staff turns up in the board's database, none are associated with ARMA-MN. Update: The Aggregate & Ready Mix Association of MN lobbyists at Larkin Hoffman are Amy Zipko & Peder Larson.

Update: Egan is now registered as a lobbyist for the Aggregate Ready Mix Association of MN.

. . . Critics of this well-worn path
are renewing calls for change, including such provisions as a one- or
two-year waiting period before someone may start lobbying after leaving
public office, and more detailed disclosure of lobbying finances.

"The
air hangs thick with these connections, and these people tend to lobby
in areas that they specialized in while they were in the Legislature,"
said state Rep. Mindy Greiling, DFL-Roseville, who along with House
Speaker Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon, has long supported passing a law that
would require a one-year waiting period before former legislators or
other public officials could become lobbyists. State Sen. John Marty,
DFL-Roseville, has introduced a bill that would impose a two-year
moratorium on legislators and high-level staff members in the
legislative and executive branch.

According to
the Center for Public Integrity in Washington, D.C., the federal
government and 22 states have some form of braking action on the
revolving door, usually one- to three-year waiting periods. . . .

Minnesota does not appear to have any laws that prevent local elected officials from lobbying the state legislature on behalf of industries that affect city and county government.

A lobbying industry insider told Bluestem that while mayors often lobby for their cities and groups such as the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities, the source could not recollect an instance in which a mayor served as state spokesperson for an industry causing conflict in the town he or she was elected to serve. The source also noted the paucity of regulation of the "revolving door" (or city hall insider, as this case may be) laws in Minnesota.